Thursday, December 4, 2008

this morning it was snowing and the temp was 20°F with the wind chill putting the temp at 10°F. The commute was a blast! I took the bike path most of the way because this is the first time I've ridden through snow on the roads. It wasn't icy so I didn't have to deal with that. And the city of Denver was plowing the bike paths! Awesome.

My bike with the wide 32 tires performed wonderfully. My commuting clothes were plenty warm as well, except that my finger tips were starting to get cold. Also I really need to get sunglasses for biking, the wind and blowing snow was distracting. Squinting into the snow is a bad idea when winter biking.

What clothes did I have? Starting at the top, I have a Novara under helmet skull cap that was warm enough, it covers my ears too, although, 15 minutes in, the bottoms of my ears were starting to get chilled.

Next, I wore my Marmot wind and water proof coat, a wool sweater, a thermal long sleeved shirt, and a t-shirt on my abdomen. I need to get a balaclava or a neck warmer, as my neck and chin were cold in the wind! But otherwise the 4 layers were plenty warm.

On my legs, I wore my Novara headwind bike pants and long underwear. They were plenty warm down to 10°! And then on my feet, wigwam wool socks and my hiking boots/shoes. No complaints there! Warm toes!

So what do I need to add for these cold days? balaclava or neck warmer... sunglasses... and glove liners, or warmer gloves. Awesome!

I'm a little leery of commuting home tonight after dark, I'll just having to keep reminding myself to take it real slow and easy. Last night I rode through Denver with Kyle and because we took an easy pace, I spotted a red fox cross the road in front of us. Which reminds me I used to occasionally see myself biking through traffic as a trickster fox riding amongst a pack of brutish hunting dogs. Go Foxes!

Also two other people here at work commuted in on bike through the first week day snowy commute! (would've been hard to live down had I taken the bus...)